The Small Animal Operative Practice Laboratory

Abstract

The small animal operative practice laboratory is the technical component of the fundamentals of surgery lecture course and should give students the basic skills necessary to actively participate in the operative and anesthetic management of client's animals in the teaching hospital. The surgery faculty is challenged with structuring a laboratory that will maximize use of available resources, including clinical and morphologic pathology faculty, for the benefit of the student. The laboratory can be structured as a small animal practice to give students the responsibility and equipment for preoperative, operative, and postoperative care of their animals. The keys to the educational success of the laboratory are the attitude and enthusiasm of the surgery faculty.